3 Realisations of a Freelancing Mom

Remember our Mother’s Day post about the WAHM Movement? In this guest post series “Meet The Team”, you will read another WAHM’s story— a real-life freelance mom who shares her busy, crazy, flourishing journey to freelancing.

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time to write. Simple as that”.— Stephen King

Back in the days, I remember how excited I was when we would go to my grandmother’s house because I could get my hands on lots of magazines and books hidden at the back of their wine bar. I would read anything from comics, magazines, textbooks, and yes even my aunt’s college books! I didn’t know that my passion for reading then would ignite my desire to write 20 years after.

It all started when I discovered the art of blogging. In between my daytime job, I would find myself looking forward to lunch breaks because it was only then that I could write and update my three blogs. Then, I decided to invest on my own laptop so I could write even when I am at home. I met lots of mom bloggers and through these amazing women, I learned that I could earn from writing. To cut the long story short, I am able to land online writing gigs from one client to another during the time that I was working from a 9-6 full time job.

Mylene Dela Cena – Fourerr’s Social Media Manager

Fast forward to 2014— I am into freelance writing for almost five years now and counting!

In that span of time, a lot of realisations dawned on me especially when people would raise their eyebrows once I told them that I work from home and that I am a freelancer. Oh yes, unfortunately, that double standard still happens to WAHM’s like me. Why dwell with them anyway?! I am earning while doing what I love exactly the same time as I look after my family— enough said.

And so with no further ado, allow me to share these three realisations that I had as I go along with my freelancing career:

1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Don’t you just love how traditional sayings jive with our present lives today? Because I do! Okay, so freelance jobs are prominently unstable, I have made myself aware of that in the first place. So each “egg” signifies a different job or source of income. I am a member of the popular WAHMderful Community for Work-At-Home Mom group in our country and most freelance moms there have 3-5 main eggs and normally, they would have 2 or 3 more spare just in case one of the main ones cease in operation.

Literally speaking, in able to have a fruitful freelancing career, it is important that you have several sources and streams of income so you will have more to fall back when one site has a shortage of work.

I have regular clients from Odesk and some independent contractors who hired me from LinkedIn. On the sides, I also accept paid guest posts, links and banners for my blogs.

2. Never stop to learn new skills.

Honestly, I never thought I could go beyond writing. But the Internet has a lot to offer especially for people who love to explore and discover things. I was once asked by a client if I could handle their Social Media accounts, even though I am initially hired as a Web Content Contributor. I was hesitant to accept because it was way beyond my comfort zone. I turned to my best friend— Mr. Google, and there they are, lots of information on how to be a a successful Social Media Marketer. It is only up for my taking, so I said YES!

As of the moment, I take pride in knowing basic HTML/CSS and WordPress Manipulation, along with writing and Social Media Marketing.

3. Freelance moms have solid gateway for chaos.

I have three kids ages 8, 7, and 5… all of them attend school. I bet you can just imagine how much chaos these little gremlins can do in minutes. There are times when I find myself drained— parenting and working from home are indeed horrid energy suckers. So, how do I maintain balance between these two?

Actually, I only have to ask them this one question “Do you want Mommy to work again in the office?” And their answers will be a resounding NO. Perhaps they still remember how I leave them at my mom’s place and pick them up at night when I got home.

When I say Mommy’s got some work to do, I make sure I have prepared activities for them to keep them occupied. It could be paper and pen, art materials or on weekends, I allow them to play with their gadgets (sometimes). It won’t hold them for long though so when they started to scream for attention, I put off what I am doing and give them the time and attention they need.

In the stillness of the night, as my husband and kids went off to Neverland— I will find myself some “ME” time before I sign in for work again. It could be an hour of blog hopping while I have my coffee, or a quick chat to my former colleagues.

This, I believe is a part of being a freelance mom, learning the act of balancing.

Are you a freelance mom as well? How do you find freelancing while doing your “Motherly Duties”?

We love to read your story! If you have links to your blog, feel free to post it on the comment section and we’ll pay you a visit!

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Mylene Dela Cena is a Social Media Manager and Freelance Writer living in the Philippines. She is passionate about working from home, earning online, freelancing, and all things about online gigs.
When she’s not writing about these topics at Fourerr, you will see her talking about family, marriage, parenting, and WAHM life on her blog Story Book Mom. In addition to her love of writing, she is also an arts and crafts enthusiast, loves everything DIY and Digital Scrapbook. Connect with her in real time on Twitter @story_book_mom.